[Unreal-users] UnrealIRCd 3.4-beta2 released

[Bram M. <sy...@vu...>]

After more than 2 years of development I'm happy to announce that UnrealIRCd 
3.4.x is now in BETA. This ends the 3.4 /alpha/ stage. Most of the features 
we have planned for UnrealIRCd 3.4.x are now done and we are shifting our 
focus towards getting a stable IRCd. This also means we are on schedule to 
deliver an UnrealIRCd 3.4 stable release by Q4 this year.

Let me take this opportunity to introduce UnrealIRCd 3.4 to everyone who 
hasn't been tracking it since the early alpha versions:

  * You decide what to load. We have moved as much functionality as possible
    to 150+ individually loadable modules (commands, user modes, channel
    modes, extbans, snomasks, ..). You decide which features your UnrealIRCd
    should have.
  * Fine-grained IRCOp privileges. The way IRCOp privileges are granted has
    been redone entirely. This allows you to configure oper privileges on a
    very detailed level. You don't want OperOverride? You don't want opers
    to see secret channels? Or you want an oper with a very minimal set of
    privileges? This is all possible.
  * Wiki. Documentation has been moved to a wiki
    <https://www.unrealircd.org/docs/>. It's even better than before and
    more accessible to people who are new to IRCd's. The wiki also allows
    easy translation by community members.
  * New directory structure. On *NIX the IRCd is now always installed to a
    different directory than where you compile from (~/unrealircd by
    default). No more mess. On both *NIX and Windows configuration files go
    in conf/, modules go in modules/, etc.. Configuration files can be
    identical on Windows and *NIX. This new directory structure also allows
    more easy packaging.
  * New I/O system using kqueue & epoll. The IRCd can now handle thousands
    of users more easily.
  * Improved SSL/TLS support. SSL has always been a major feature in
    UnrealIRCd but has been enhanced. SSL client certificate fingerprints
    are visible in /WHOIS, a certfp extban (~S:certificatefingerprint) has
    been added, better defaults, etc.
  * DNS Blacklist support (DNSBL/RBL). Great for combating drones and other
    abusers.
  * Better and more helpful error messages. Especially regarding the
    configuration file.
  * More modern server-to-server protocol. Such as using UID/SID's.
    Resulting in less desynch. issues.
  * Lowering the bar for Spamfilter. You can now choose between 'regex' and
    'simple' matching. Simple matching allows using the usual '?' and '*'
    wildcards that everyone knows about. The regex engine has been moved
    from TRE to PCRE (=about twice as fast).
  * Configuration is more logical. Around 30% of the configuration blocks
    have been restructured. Don't worry, we include an UnrealIRCd 3.2.x to
    3.4.x configuration file converter.
  * Easier 3rd party module management. On *NIX you now just put your 3rd
    party modules in src/modules/third and then each time you run 'make'
    they will be compiled if needed.
  * Easier upgrading. On *NIX, when upgrading to a new version, ./Config
    will ask you to import settings from a previous installation,
    remembering your installation directory and other settings. It will also
    copy the 3rd party modules from the old to the new installation and
    re-compile them.
  * More secure. Even better secure defaults, more warnings about insecure
    behavior, ..


For developers:

  * Easier source navigation. Because we moved almost everything to modules,
    it's now much easier to see all the code for a particular feature.
  * Cleaner code. There have been a lot of source code cleanups. Code has
    been restructured or rewritten. Old irrelevant code has been deleted.
  * Development documentation can be found on the wiki
    <https://www.unrealircd.org/docs/Main_Page>. We explain how to write a
    module in C and list all the details on the various Module API's such as
    how to write commands, channel modes, plug-in by using Hooks, etc...


Since this is such an early beta, we do not recommend running it on a 
production network yet.

Release notes are available here. 
<https://www.unrealircd.org/txt/unreal3_4_beta2_release_notes.txt> Be sure 
to read the release notes if you are trying out UnrealIRCd 3.4 and are 
currently on 3.2. It contains important information on the new location of 
files, configuration format, and how to automatically convert your 
unrealircd.conf to 3.4.x format.

As always, you can download UnrealIRCd from https://www.unrealircd.org/

Just a small note to people who verify PGP signatures of releases: please 
note that we use a new PGP release key as previously announced on July 2nd 
on this mailing list. The new PGP key has short key id 0x108FF4A9 and long 
id 0xA7A21B0A108FF4A9. All releases on the site are (re-) signed with this 
key, including 3.2.10.4 (just the signature, the 3.2.10.4 files themselves 
are unchanged, of course).

Have fun!

Bram.

PS: I actually sent in the announcement on 3.4-beta1 a week ago, however due 
to Sourceforge infrastructure problems outside my control problems it was 
never actually sent out. Today I released 3.4-beta2, so this is the first 
announcement on a 3.4 beta.

-- 
Bram Matthys
Software developer/IT con...@vu...
Website:www.vulnscan.org
PGP key:www.vulnscan.org/pubkey.asc
PGP fp: EBCA 8977 FCA6 0AB0 6EDB  04A7 6E67 6D45 7FE1 99A6